Page 38 of Collateral Omega

“Right,” Xaine said.

“Smile,” Klane said, wrenching the door open. Xaine wanted to punch him, but he forced a smile on his lips, and got out of the pod. Time seemed to slow as the crowd got closer. They spoke at the same time, throwing questions at him. Light exploded around him. Different scents filled his nose, causing his hard-won calm to slip. He normally couldn’t handle crowds, but this was ridiculous. He was hyperaware of everything.

“Shit.” He couldn’t cause a scene here. “Klane.”

“I’m on it,” he said, guiding him through the crowd into the house. Klane walked back out to speak to them. Xaine winced as he heard the beta make excuses for him. He fucking hated his life.

“Are they gone?” Xaine asked Klane when he walked back into the house a few minutes later.

“For now. You’re going to have to talk to them at some point. Perhaps right now it’s not ideal. You’re just getting off your heat. Once you’ve…” Klane’s connector went off, interrupting him. “Excuse me,” he said, completing the connection. Xaine tried not to listen to his conversation, but his ears perked up when he heard the voice on the other side mention the service omega from four days ago.

Klane’s eyes lifted to Xaine too.

“I’m sure you know why I connected with you.”

“I might have an idea,” Klane said. He took a step away from Xaine, but it was no use. Xaine could still hear everything.

“We take the safety and well-being of our service omegas seriously. And since we cannot control what happens between our omegas and the alphas they service, we put all our trust in the alphas. And I am afraid your master has violated that trust. I am sorry to inform you that your master has been banned from all the omega service agencies for a year, reinstatement pending review.”

“Wait all of them?”

“Yes. I brought my case to the other agencies, and they agree with my decision.”

“What? Isn’t that a bit harsh? It was one incident…and one damn scratch.”

“In order to protect our service omegas, we have to take extreme measures,” the voice said coldly. “Your master will be informed of our decision after a year. Take care.” The connector went silent. Klane turned to him just as stunned as Xaine was.

“Can you handle going a year without sex?” Klane asked, pulling a weird face because he knew the answer. “You’re going to go crazy, aren’t you?”

“What do you think?” Xaine asked.

“Fuck.”

Yeah. He was fucked. Xaine walked upstairs to his room.

“You could get bonded,” Klane called, running after him. The sound of his footsteps echoed all around him. Xaine winced, the sound hitting his ears too hard. Fuck. He was sensitive. It would seem getting sedated was another mistake he made.

Drugs just don’t agree with me, Xaine thought as he entered his room.

“I think that’s the solution. You should get bonded,” Klane said.

Xaine closed his eyes and prayed for patience. Klane knew he didn’t have a long line of omegas waiting impatiently to get bonded to him. Omegas scampered in the opposite direction when they saw him coming.

“Okay. I’ll get bonded.” Xaine indulged the beta just to where he was taking this. “Do you have an omega I can get bonded to?”

“No,” Klane said.

Wow, Xaine didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He’d never had such a useless conversation in his entire life. Xaine shook his head and made his way to the washroom.

“But you do,” Klane said, stopping him in his tracks. “Your dad found you one.”

“Found?” Xaine laughed. There was no telling what his dad did to that poor omega to have things end up the way they did. And Xaine wanted no part of it. “I thought we were never going to talk about that.”

“You know I wouldn’t bring it up if this wasn’t a serious matter,” Klane said. “If you can live without sex for a year. I’ll let it go. But you and I both know you can’t. I suggest you decide before your next heat.” Klane bowed and walked out of the room. The beta wasn't even going to argue with him about this. Give him a chance to refuse a little before he inevitably gave him.

Fuck, Xaine silently cussed.

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